2010 Last Chance For Boston

Now that it's the week before Boston, I'm going to try to get caught up on my race reports. First up is the Last Chance For Boston Marathon, held on Sunday February 28, 2010. There was much talk within the MCRR about sending a large contingent down to run, as it was just down the road in Dublin, OH. I was in at first, but with my aches and pains I developed in the 24 Hour, I decided I probably shouldn't run it.

For whatever reason, I got it into my head to register to run the marathon the day before. That was a decision I would come to regret. Just like all my long training runs, the pain in my feet, ankle, and now my lower back, hit me hard. Where as just a few months earlier I could go run 26.2 without barely thinking about it, I was hobbling around the one mile loop course nearly as badly as I was in Morganton. It was all I could do to keep moving and finish.

The photo above was at a point when I was feeling pretty bad and it shows. I really just wanted it to be over. But there were too many people I knew there so DNF'ing wasn't an option. I just had to keep moving. My back was the worst. I could deal with the feet and ankle, but the back was sending pain shooting down my legs and leaving me with no strength at all. So I just limped along.

My finish time was 3:55:07, which was under my 4 hour goal time and not a PW, so I had that to be happy about. But that was all. I shouldn't have run it. It really messed me up for the rest of the week, and I had the Green Jewel 50K the following weekend. That was a no go. I was able to get my number transferred to Chuck, who went out and ran great!

Mrs. P had a good run in the Last Chance Half Marathon, running a 2:23:47. She had some pains requiring her to slow down, but at least put on a happy face!